Tag Archives: Bicycle

One Shot is the ultimate portable bike. It isn’t shaped like a typical bike, although it still rides like one. Obviously it’s not meant to be ridden on mountain trails either, judging by the size of the wheels on this thing. It is, first and foremost, a portable bike. It was designed to be used with the rail transit in mind, as the sleek design allows it to be stowed in the train when commuting.

Essentially, One Shot helps you get to the places where you need to be minus the emissions (if you were riding a car) and minus the sore legs (if you were walking or running the entire time.) It folds up easily into a trolley-type rolling case which you can lug around using the attached handle when you’ve reached the station or when you’re not using it for easy handling.

Electric bikes aren’t cheap. They might even seem like a frivolous purchase, especially if you’ve already got a bicycle that cost an arm and a leg when you bought it a few years ago. While there are a lot of conversion kits available to “electric-fy” your bike, most of them make your bike look like an experiment or a work in progress.

Then along came Rubbee, a recently-launched project on Kickstarter that promises to turn your regular bike into an electric one in seconds.

You put furniture together on a regular basis, so why not assemble your own bike together for a change? IKEA doesn’t have DIY bikes in stock on their shelves, but you can get one called the Sandwichbike delivered to your doorstep. Oh, and did I mention that it’s a wooden bike you’ll be putting together with this kit?

The Sandwichbike is basically a wooden bike that’s packed flat in a box in its component pieces. It won’t look like much of a bike when you open the box, as you’ll be greeted with its component parts that are just waiting for you to put them together.

The hole in the ozone layer is getting bigger as we speak. Yet people still continue to burn and release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere like there’s no tomorrow. (Well, if they continue acting this way, then there really won’t be a tomorrow.) A big contributor is the exhaust gas emitted by cars and motorcycles.

Now we might not be able to eliminate all sorts of emissions, but we can do our part by carpooling and taking the old bike out for a ride every now and then. If you don’t own a bike yet then no worries, because now you can get one for less than a hundred bucks. That’s if the Recycled Cardboard Bicycle created by Izhar Gafni ever gets made on a large scale. His bike is put together using recycled card board and will only cost $9 to $12 to produce. By the time it hits stores, these bikes would probably be priced somewhere around $60 to $90, so really, there’s no excuse why you shouldn’t get one of these. I think the coolest part is that you’ll be helping the environment by riding something that was made with the environment in mind.

Hit the jump to check out a video about the Recycled Cardboard Bicycle!

Every year, over a million people die due to road traffic injuries and related incidents. Millions more figure in motor vehicle accidents that could have been prevented. In many instances, the accidents only happen because someone was being careless or wasn’t paying attention. Other times, it could be due to circumstances, like the road being too dark or the fact that there was blind corner where people thought there was none.

Now the Halo LED Belt might not be able to prevent all of these types of accidents from happening, but they will be able to make people easier to spot, especially those riding along in their bikes or crossing the road on a particularly dark night. Dubbed as the “World’s First LED Safety Belt”, the LED lighting emitted through thermoplastic polyurethane fiber optics on the belt increases a person’s visibility.

The Halo can also be used when you’re changing a tire on the side of the road or when you’re jogging. You can even use it as a fashion accessory and add to your visibility (and outfit!) during raves or parties.

Hit the jump for a video of Halo X, which are actually two Halo belts quicksnapped together.

In the same way a pickup truck probably isn’t going to put you on the podium at Le Mans, don’t expect to be winning any races, or securing the Tour de France’s yellow jersey, with this LOCAL Bike. Like a pickup it stresses function over form, but that’s not to imply it’s an eyesore or anything. In fact, Yves Béhar’s San Francisco-based ‘fuseproject’ has spent months designing and improving the LOCAL to the point where they’re happy to declare it the “perfect Neighborhood bike.”

Is it ideal for riding off into the sunset on a multiple day bike trip? Certainly not. But as cargo bikes go, it’s designed to hold everything from groceries, to pets, to kids, to even lumber and surfboards while still being light, nimble and maneuverable. The LOCAL’s also got integrated lighting and locking systems so it’s ready for use in a busy urban setting. And even its own sound system, courtesy of a wireless Jambox strapped to the canvas panel located just below the rider. Pricing, availability and all that important stuff that lets you know this will someday be a real product haven’t been announced. So here’s to hoping the LOCAL just isn’t some design exercise.

I bet those over-privileged kids who went on all those Magic School Bus adventures wouldn’t be so keen on flying around the universe if Ms. Frizzle had opted for this eco-friendly pedal powered model instead. (That’s right, I read books written for children!) Designed and built in the Netherlands by De Café Racer, the bus-bike can accomodate 10 kids and an adult driver. And I imagine there isn’t a school bus driver on the planet who wouldn’t love a solution like this that puts the kids to work, tiring them out after the first mile. But since kids are notoriously lazy, the bus-bike also has an auxiliary electric motor if the driver’s not so keen on pedaling 10 kids home who refuse to help.

It’s most definitely not the first passive speaker system for the iPhone that relies on physics to boost the performance of its built-in speaker. But I’m pretty sure it’s the first specifically designed to mount on the handlebars of your bike. The iCarry Bike L from Germany-based OZAKI includes a mounting arm that keeps your iPhone in easy reach when riding, yet fully protected, and a seashell-like bottom that both amplifies the sounds coming from your phone and those going to it. So in theory it should improve its speakerphone performance as well. But for the $50 they’re asking for it (according to The Gadgeteer) you’re probably just better off getting a Bluetooth headset and keeping your iPhone in your pocket.

If you like the sleek look and minimal frame design of a fixie bike, but sometimes prefer the benefits of a freewheel model (like brakes, switchable gear ratios etc.) then a team of 5 mechanical engineering students at the University of Pennsylvania have just finished work on your dream ride. The ALPHA incorporates the team’s innovative new free/fixed transmission which they’ve dubbed the ‘SWIFT Drive’, as well as a fully internal drivetrain all operated by an electronically-controlled clutch.

According to the ALPHA’s website the team went above and beyond the call of duty when it came to engineering the bike’s subsystems to maximize strength and performance vs. weight, and as a result it actually weighs less than a regular steel-framed bike but can withstand far more. It doesn’t skimp on technology though to keep the weight down. There’s a dynamo built into the front hub which generates power for the onboard electronics which includes rear LED lighting and a host of sensors which provide real-time performance data to the rider via an LCD display integrated into the handlebars.

Of course since the bike is all custom made from materials like titanium and carbon fiber I’m sure the working model is probably worth tens of thousands of dollars. So let’s hope the team can patent and license their new technologies so the ALPHA can one day become a real, and moderately affordable, product.

OhGizmo! is a frequently updated blog that focuses on covering items that will appeal to a very specific and often very passionate audience: the geek. Aside from the fare of innovative consumer electronic products, the reader can expect to find news about geek culture, absurd inventions, awe inspiring technology, and an ever growing assortment of articles that we like to think fit within our view of what we’re calling the Geek Lifestyle.